Canada asks Algerian ambassador for proof of Canadian links to terror attack

Federal officials “summoned” the Algerian ambassador in Ottawa to a meeting this week to press for proof that Canadians were involved in the recent deadly attack on a natural gas plant in the north African country, a Canadian government official said Tuesday.

The official, who requested anonymity, said Canadian diplomats in Ottawa and Algiers are seeking access to whatever information the Algerians are using to identify any of the militants as Canadian.

“Canada summoned the Algerian ambassador to Canada to make that point directly,” the official said.

The official said the in-person meeting between the ambassador and Canadian officials took place Monday but declined to provide further details.

As of Tuesday afternoon, the Canadian government had received “no information” regarding the identities of the militants involved, according to a statement from Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird’s office.

An email to the Algerian ambassador’s office in Ottawa was not immediately returned and the person who answered the phone declined to comment.

Algerian Prime Minister Abdelmalek Sellal told reporters Monday that last week’s four-day siege at the sprawling complex, which left 37 hostages and 29 militants dead, was carried out by a group of attackers that included two Canadians. The others were from Egypt, Mali, Niger, Mauritania and Tunisia, Sellal said.

The siege ended when Algerian special forces stormed the plant.

As of Tuesday, five foreign workers at the plant were still unaccounted for.

An al-Qaida-affiliated group called the Masked Brigade claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it was in retaliation for Algeria’s support of a French military operation against Islamist extremists in northern Mali.